EU countries must repatriate children with their nationality from the camps in northeastern Syria. A large majority of the European Parliament (495 against 58) called on the 28 member states to do so on Wednesday.
The European Union should play a coordinating role in such a mass repatriation effort. The call is part of a non-binding resolution on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Belgian MEP Saskia Bricmont (European Greens) criticized the lack of action by EU countries. According to her, several hundred European ‘jihadist children’, most of whom are under 5 years old, are living under deplorable conditions in detention camps in northeastern Syria. In some cases, even aid organizations that want to repatriate the children are being thwarted by their government.
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About 1,400 IS children whose at least one parent is an EU citizen reside in Syria and Iraq, EU Commissioner Julian King (Security) recently said. He welcomed the decision of some member states to repatriate children and pointed out that the European Commission can be helpful.
The Dutch government has, due to the risks, so far refused to repatriate children of IS fighters but is internally divided on the issue. A court has not compelled the Netherlands to do so, but within the governing coalition in The Hague, more and more voices are calling for action…
According to the Dutch intelligence service, 90 children with Dutch origins are staying in Syrian-Kurdish camps. In some cases, the government in The Hague has revoked Dutch nationality if those adults also hold a second nationality.
The Netherlands also does not want to take back IS fighters to potentially prosecute them in the Netherlands for alleged war crimes. The Netherlands believes those fighters should be prosecuted in the country where they conducted their armed struggle, in Iraq or Syria.